Late 2009 iMac Drive Replacement

[ArmouredBear]

I have an iMac (27-inch Late 2009) Model A1312 (EMC 2374) and would like to replace the broken optical drive with an SSD and upgrade the HDD.
I have the iFixit instructions for the job itself but would like to confirm that I'm using the correct parts.

My HDD is ST31000528AS which is a Seagate Barracuda drive, I understand that I can replace this drive with a similar Seagate Drive, e.g. a 4TB Seagate Barracuda Desktop HDD.15 and won't have any problems wrt fan control, is that correct?
I want the drive to not be a "green" drive, i.e. to have a fast spin-up, the delay in randomly spinning up my external drives, drives me crazy.

For the SSD, I'll buy the iFixit kit and was thinking of either the Crucial BX100 or the Samsung 850 (Both 1TB).

Any help will be greatly received.
Thanks in advance.

Edit :
Would the SEAGATE Constellation ES.3 be a better option?

 

[Lankyman]

I have an iMac (27-inch Late 2009) Model A1312 (EMC 2374) and would like to replace the broken optical drive with an SSD and upgrade the HDD.
I have the iFixit instructions for the job itself but would like to confirm that I'm using the correct parts.

My HDD is ST31000528AS which is a Seagate Barracuda drive, I understand that I can replace this drive with a similar Seagate Drive, e.g. a 4TB Seagate Barracuda Desktop HDD.15 and won't have any problems wrt fan control, is that correct?
I want the drive to not be a "green" drive, i.e. to have a fast spin-up, the delay in randomly spinning up my external drives, drives me crazy.

For the SSD, I'll buy the iFixit kit and was thinking of either the Crucial BX100 or the Samsung 850 (Both 1TB).

Any help will be greatly received.
Thanks in advance.

Edit :
Would the SEAGATE Constellation ES.3 be a better option?

It depends when in 2009 it was built. Early then my understanding is that no temp sensor is required for the HDD, later in the year and a temp sensor is required. Go over to OWC and put in your details, that way you will be sure.

If there is a sensor on the OD then you will need to very carefully remove it and stick it to the SSD, otherwise that will trigger a fan too. I have just fitted an SSD to two iMac's (one of them today) though I have fitted the SSD under the OD.

Given that your data will be on the HDD with the apps on the SSD why are you bothered about HDD spin up speed, in real world use it's not relevant.

On the subject of the SSD's the Evo is a better drive than the budget Crucial. However, if you are putting such a large HDD in the iMac why on earth would you put a 1TB SSD in there too? Most people find 250 gig to be more than enough for the boot drive. I have actually used a 500 gig Evo but that is simply because I got a very good deal on it.

 

[ArmouredBear]

Hi lankyman,
Thanks a lot for your help, it's a late 2009 iMac, However, OWC (thanks for the tip) supply a digital thermal sensor so that I could use any drive. For the boot drive, I would like it to be large enough to hold my photos (215GB), I initially wanted to include my music too (over 500GB) but that doesn't really make sense, it can go on the large drive with all my other media so 500GB will probably be fine.

WRT spin up speed, with my external USB 2.0 drives I often have a several second delay whilst they spin up, even when they're not being accessed, I find this extremely annoying and want to avoid this but I'm sure I'm worrying about nothing when it comes to an internal SATA drive.

 

[Lankyman]

Hi lankyman,
Thanks a lot for your help, it's a late 2009 iMac, However, OWC (thanks for the tip) supply a digital thermal sensor so that I could use any drive. For the boot drive, I would like it to be large enough to hold my photos (215GB), I initially wanted to include my music too (over 500GB) but that doesn't really make sense, it can go on the large drive with all my other media so 500GB will probably be fine.

WRT spin up speed, with my external USB 2.0 drives I often have a several second delay whilst they spin up, even when they're not being accessed, I find this extremely annoying and want to avoid this but I'm sure I'm worrying about nothing when it comes to an internal SATA drive.

I am using my original HDD in the iMac on which I have put ALL my data. The only things on the SSD is OS X, the application folder and my Windows VM. I have used symbolic linker from the SSD empty folders to the same folders on my HDD e.g. Photos symbolic link to Photos HDD.

It all just works - no delays either.